AA: San Watanabe - Another Hero
by Melanie Malachite
Summary: The year is 2008. Kouichi Sakakibara has found a hint that could lead to Reiko Mikami's killer from 1996. When the case is reopened, a former classmate of his named San Watanabe is the police detective on the job. The mystery, however, may go deeper than even the curse of class three.
1. Reopened Case

The old dirt road, unused for decades, was warm under the mid-summer sun. A metal barrier stretched across the road, preventing any vehicles from progressing farther. Beyond the barrier, stretching as far as the eye could see, was a beautiful landscape of green. Trees covered the valley and the mountains around it, belying the true nature of the place.

Two figures stood on the road, leaning on the barrier and observing the peaceful valley. One was an elderly man who looked to be nearly in his eighties. He was somewhat obese, though he had lost a lot of weight in recent years, and his gray hair was pale and fading in more than one way. The individual beside him was practically the opposite; a young woman in her mid-twenties, thin and lithe, with long dark hair falling down her back. Her gray eyes were sharp and studious, inspecting the valley laid out before her.

Their connection was simple. She was what he had been twenty-five years earlier. She was a police detective, her current case leading her to this place where she hoped to find the perpetrator of a murder committed over a decade earlier. Somewhere down below, in amongst the trees, she knew he was hiding. Vaguely, they could make out the shapes of old buildings in the overgrown valley. According to the old retired detective, who had worked several cases in this very place when it had been populated, an entire town rested in forgotten abandonment down there.

What secrets were hidden here, she didn't know or care. After more then ten years of not a single hint or trace, a murderer had been located. She had been just a child when it first happened, but she remembered well her dance with death that was intertwined with the victim whose death would soon be avenged. She didn't remember meeting the woman, but it had happened. She had met Reiko Mikami... more than eighteen months after the murder of Reiko Mikami.

* * *

**Three Weeks Earlier...**

Two men walked through the crowded beach. The sun beat down on them, making both quite uncomfortable in their formal clothing. The younger of the two was more bothered, as he was only present to help convince the person they were going to see of how much they were needed. His involvement ended shortly after that. The older man, though only older by five years at most, would be directly involved in helping the investigation.

They spotted the person they had been searching for about the same time as each other. Walking over, the younger of the two men tripped more than once in the soft sand. It had been a long time since he had been to a beach, and the shoes he was wearing were ill-suited for the task. Eventually, they both made their way over to their destination and stood over the young woman.

The older of the two men addressed the woman. "It's been two months and one day since you were taken off duty. The chief wants you back."

The young woman leaned her head back, resting herself further into the chair. She brought a small glass filled with a fruity drink closer to her face. "Of course the chief wants me back. Just when I was getting comfortable out here." She paused to look over the younger of the two men, scanning him from behind her sunglasses. "Who's the new guy?"

The older man laughed and glanced at the man beside him. "Ah, no, sorry. He's not with us. He's the guy with the case that the chief assigned you to."

She groaned and put the glass down. "Well, this is just the perfect first impression, isn't it? Was this your idea, Nishijima, or did the chief suggest you bring this guy out here to meet me like this?"

Nishijima, her immediate superior, shook his head. "He heard that you were one of ours and requested to meet you as soon as possible. His reason, and we checked to verify, is that you two were classmates a while back."

Hearing this, she sat up and pulled her sunglasses down. Her gray eyes looked over him in this new light, and she quickly recognized him. "Sakakibara?"

He reached his hand out to shake, and she accepted. He smiled. "It's been a while. Well, it's been a while since I saw anyone from class three, really." The handshake ended, and he suddenly became conscious of what she was wearing. "Uh... nice swimsuit."

She glanced down at herself. Somehow, she really didn't feel like she was embarrassed to be seen in a two piece swimsuit. It was nothing like how any of the anime she had watched showed the girl getting all red and blushy. "Well..." She had no difficulty determining that it felt absolutely normal. "It's the least you're ever going to see me wearing, so don't get your hopes up."

He shrugged, holding up his hand. "I don't mind. Married already."

She saw the ring, but only spent about a second on it. She shrugged and sat back again, taking her drink with her. "So, Sakakibara... what do you have that you want me to look into?"

Nishijima answered for him. "It's actually the reopening of a case. New information pertaining to a case that was never solved. The nineteen-ninety-six murder of one Reiko Mikami."

Sakakibara finished for him. "That was my aunt, for those wondering. Her death was part of the curse of class three, two years before you and I attended that class."

Nishijima smiled down at her. "The chief wants you back on duty right away." Even as he finished his sentence, she downed the drink in her hand. He sighed, not doubting for a second that it was alcoholic. "Right... How's the injury, San? Healing well?"

Pushing her dark hair back, she then motioned at her body. "Wouldn't be wearing a bikini if it wasn't healing well."

He looked over her for a second before pulling his eyes back up to her face. "Fair enough. I know I wouldn't."

She quickly laughed at him. "Oh, come on. I was already drunk when you got here. I doubt I could walk back to the hotel on my own. Here, help me up."

Nishijima rolled his eyes, reaching down and taking her hand. He pulled her to her feet, and then reached down and picked up her towel. She took it and wrapped it around her waist, tying the corners together to keep it from slipping. Sakakibara watched them walk off. He shrugged and started gathering the rest of her things, ending up carrying a cooler, a lawn chair, and an umbrella.

No less than an hour later, after she had changed into a light shirt and a decent pair of pants, the two men were packing her car for travel. She wouldn't be able to drive, so they agreed that Sakakibara would drive her car back to the city. Nishijima would be in his own car, in which he had brought Sakakibara. As soon as the two vehicles started off, San fell asleep in the seat next to Sakakibara.

It was several hours later when she woke up. The sky was dark overhead, and streetlights went by in an eerie parade of yellowy-white glows. She covered her face with her hands, groaning in pain at the headache now plaguing her. After a few minutes of waiting, he finally spoke to her.

"So... San Watanabe. An officer of the law. Never would have seen it myself."

Eventually, after around ten seconds of not responding, she sat up and placed her hands in her lap. She kept her eyes closed, the light still hurting. "Aw... shit. My head hurts..." She finally blinked her eyes open slowly, then looked over at him. "Why? What do you do?"

He laughed. "Ah, yeah, about that... I'm sort of like... you've heard of stay-at-home mothers?" She grunted in response. He laughed again. "Well, I'm sorta like that except I'm a father... uh, except I'm not really that either. A stay-at-home husband, I guess. My wife is a news reporter in Hokkaido."

She shook her head, realizing how much she hated hangovers. "Dammit, I'm never drinking again. Uh... not... what you thought you'd be doing?"

He sighed, looking straight ahead at the road. "I doubt any of us from that class are doing now what we thought we'd be doing ten years ago. I know, uh, Matsuko Arita moved to the United States and she's become an actress. Teshigawara, I don't know how he did it, got into stand-up comedy. Mei Misaki still lives in Yomiyama with her mother. Have you ever been in that doll shop?"

San rubbed her forehead, trying to massage her headache away. "Um... no. I never really was into dolls. No, in ninety-eight, I was more concerned with my Nintendo 64 than with what... other girls were into." She started laughing in spite of her headache. "Well, okay, that started a few years earlier. I'm not sure when the girls I stuck around stopped talking about dolls and started talking about... other stuff. I actually had minimal or superficial interaction with them, usually."

"Wow..." He shook his head. "I think, at that age, most people only pretend to be interested in what their peers are talking about. I mean, there wasn't much that people talked to me about that wasn't something about the curse. I wouldn't have minded talking about video games, in retrospect. I didn't really play much back then, but..."

San glared over at him. "This case isn't about solving the curse, is it?"

He laughed again, but stopped and put on a straight face when he saw how serious she was. "No. No, this is about finding the man who murdered my aunt and seeing him come to justice. Nothing more. It wasn't any sort of embodiment of the curse or anything like that, so there has to be a real person out there responsible. I have reason to believe someone might know something."

She nodded. "Okay, that's a pretty vague lead. Any clue who?"

He smirked over at her. "The same guy who helped me figure out how to stop the curse for the year."

San bolted upright at that. "You were the one who stopped it?" He just nodded. She bit back the urge to swear. "That's why it stopped in the middle of the year. You figured it out and stopped it. Who is this guy, and how did he know?"

Sakakibara shrugged. "He was in class three, twenty-five years ago, at the same time as my aunt. He managed to stop the curse that year, and he left a recorded tape explaining how he did it. That tape was accidentally irreversibly messed up, but I put one of my own back in the same spot. I don't remember how I did it, and I know he didn't remember when we asked him, but he did remember where he put it. I remember that too, and I remember that the tape says how to stop the curse."

She waved her hands to get him to stop. "Okay, so run it by me one more time. You made a connection earlier between the curse and your aunt's death, but she was in class three a whopping thirteen years before she died. And you're saying she died from the curse?"

He nodded. "She was the homeroom teacher for class three."

"Okay... so she did die from the curse." San's mind raced. "She died from the curse, and she also survived it years earlier. Both of us survived it, and our evidence and source, as well as any witnesses we might have later, are all related to the curse. Everything here revolves around the curse. Yet, we're not trying to solve the curse. We're trying to solve her murder."

"Exactly." He took a deep breath. "Well, except it's not 'we'. As soon as I get that tape to you and get you in contact with the guy, I'm taking a bus or something back to Hokkaido. Nishijima said he would keep in contact with both of us throughout your investigation. If any of us gets hold of anything new, the rest of us hear about it within a day."

She deflated, groaning. "I knew I recognized this road. You're taking me to Yomiyama."

"Yeah... sorry."

"It's okay. I left that place seven years ago, hoping never to see it again. Maybe it'll be different..."

His face turned sad. "No... the curse still comes back every year. It's amazing how people still refuse to believe what's happening there."

"Damn." She opened the window an inch, letting in some air that blew her hair back and cooled her down. The fresh air was exactly what she needed right now, for more than one reason. However long it took, the foreseeable future was going to be hard for her to deal with. "Well, you can't run forever. It's time to go home."

* * *

**Author's Notes: This is the start of a brand new journey. Where will it take our new heroine?**


	2. Home Again

San watched the city come into sight. It looked the same from where she sat, but it felt different. She felt safer, for reasons she couldn't understand. Last she had been in Yomiyama, just before she left, the stress from the memories of her time in class three had nearly broken her. She knew several others had run out of town the year they had been in that class, and many of them had been her friends.

Sakakibara smiled over at her. "Oh, by the way, do you remember Megumi?"

She sighed. Right there was one of those that had run away. She thought it odd he would use her first name. "Megumi Tatara? Yes, I remember her."

He held up his hand, the one with the wedding ring. "We ran into each other in Hokkaido five years ago."

San's face showed her surprise. "So... wow, but... I would have thought, if it would be anyone from that class, you'd be with Misaki."

He shrugged. "Yeah, well... we were close friends, but that was all. Apparently, Mei Misaki didn't want to leave Yomiyama. She had family obligations."

"You sound bitter."

He frowned. "No, not bitter. Just... well, there's a reason I'm not going to be sticking around in Yomiyama." He shrugged. "I mean, Megumi does want me back home, but I also don't particularly care to run into anyone while I'm there."

She shot him a quick glare, but it lasted less than a second. "You don't want to see anyone from class three?"

He shook his head. "Not exactly. I mean, it's more along the lines of... a lot of them still blame me for a lot of what happened back then."

San shook her head. "That's ridiculous. You weren't the extra. You weren't responsible for anything that happened."

He nodded. "I know that. Misaki knows that. Teshigawara and Mochizuki know that. Megumi... she doesn't really talk about it. At all." He took a deep breath. "And then there are the ones like Mizuno who blame me directly. I know he still lives in this city, and I want to avoid bumping into him. The grudge, if you can call it that, between Misaki and myself is something entirely different."

Sakakibara slowed the car enough to catch the exit leading into the city. San watched him intently, completely ignoring the road and where he was taking her. She studied him, trying to see if there was anything off. He didn't glance to the side even once. He wasn't the least bit worried. He hadn't lied at all, as far as she could tell. She was safe so far as he was involved. She could trust Sakakibara.

Houses went by outside, few shining lights out the windows. She looked out and up at just the right time to see a young teenage girl sitting at her bedroom window sill. San recognized the house. It had been hers years earlier. That had once been her bedroom. The moment passed, and the car moved on, but San thought about that girl. She looked the right age. Could she have been in the same class San was in ten years ago, just as she was in San's room?

She turned to Sakakibara. "I am safe from the curse, no matter what I do?"

He looked over to her, questioningly. "So far as I know. Why?"

She sighed. "When we get that tape, and we figure out how to stop the curse, I'm going to try and help the class for this year."

He stopped the car, and only after looking around did she realize they had arrived at the parking lot in front of an apartment building. He turned and stared at her. "If you're going to help the class, be very careful about what you tell them. I remember enough to tell you that everything went to hell when people found out how to stop the curse. I can't say why, but maybe we'll find out when we listen to that tape. I want to be out of this city by tonight, so we're going to be traveling around a bit today. First, you should probably rest a bit. I've rented a room in there under your name. Just go in and give the receptionist your name and you'll be fine."

She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "But I just woke up... ah, who am I kidding? Rest is accepted. Where are you going to be?"

He laughed as he opened the door. "My grandparents lived in the area when I was a kid. There house is under my name, me being their closest living relative. I know where it is, and it's only a short walk from here. I'll be back here in about ten hours. Think you'll be rested by then?"

San nodded, opening her own door. "Yeah, I'll be good by then. So my stuff should just stay here in the car until morning?"

Getting out and stretching, he agreed plainly. "Sounds doable. We'll walk to the school and get that tape first. We'll have plenty of time to figure out what it says and what that means before lunch hour. You can introduce yourself to the teacher then, and then you can talk to the class."

She turned around and shuffled through her stuff before getting out. Finding what she was looking for, she grabbed the items and got out, promptly hitting her head on the roof of the car. "Dammit!"

Sakakibara turned and looked into the car, seeing the items that she dropped onto the seat while she clutched her head. "It's an apartment building. You're not going to need a gun. You're... you're not bringing that to the school, are you?"

Recovering, she shot him a glare. "I'm taking that with me no matter where I go." With that, she grabbed the gun and tucked it into her belt at the back, covering it with her shirt. She scooped up the other object, her badge, and slid it into her pocket. "Come get me in the morning."

He sighed and shook his head. "Right... I'll, uh... I'll actually send someone else to get you, if that's alright. I know one of the teachers at the school. She can get you where you need to go."

San nodded, already turning to go in. "That'll do."

She figured her would go on his own. They'd meet in the morning, and that would be fine. In around twenty-four hours, he would be heading back to Hokkaido. She walked through the front doors and walked up to the receptionist. The young woman behind the desk smiled up at her.

"May I help you?"

San nodded. "Yeah, do you have a room reserved for, uh... San Watanabe?"

The young woman looked at the computer screen beside her. "Hmm... yes. That's room three." She reached under the desk and pulled out a key card, handing it over the desk to San and then pointed to the left. "Here you go. It'll be that way. It's the middle door."

San nodded her thanks and walked over to the room she'd been pointed to. There were five doors. Of course, she thought, room three was in the middle. Once she was inside, she quickly found the shower and turned it on. She stepped over to the bed and pulled out her gun, placing it safely under the pillow. She then set her badge on the table beside the bed.

Twenty minutes and a shower later, she was asleep in the bed. Her clothes were scattered on the floor beside the bed, left where she had dropped them before her shower. The light blanket had been pulled only part way up her back, leaving the rest of her bare as she slept face down. She had no intention of boiling to death in her sleep, so the window was wide open. A cool breeze swept through the room, making the droplets of sweat on her back feel like they had frozen. She had one arm stretched over the pillow and gripping the back of the bed, while her other hand was tucked under the pillow and resting on her firearm.

She woke up to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She raised her head slowly, glancing out the window. It was early morning, and the heat was already starting. Her attempt at staying cool had failed miserably. A pool of sticky warm sweat had formed under her, drenching her body. Groaning in irritation, she reached back and grabbed the blanket, pulling it up and stuffing it under her to soak up the sweat.

Making a face, she sat up and addressed whoever was on the other side of the door. They hadn't stopped knocking, so she made sure they would hear her. "I'll be out in a moment."

Dressing herself hastily, she ducked into the bathroom to check herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, sticking to her skin anywhere it could reach, including under her shirt. While she was noting this, she also realized that the addition of the sweat made her shirt rather transparent. She undid the top three buttons, relieved to find that that made specific parts of her skin less visible.

She stepped out and opened the door, seeing a face she never thought she'd see again. Much less in Yomiyama. "...Sachiko... Nakajima?"

The young woman in front of her nodded, confirming who she was. "Sakakibara told me you were going to try and help with the curse going on right now. I don't really want to get too involved myself, but I can help you a little bit. And I'm also here to give you a ride to the school."

San nodded. "Alright... give me a second." She went back in and grabbed her badge, tucking it away in one pocket and sticking her gun in the other. "Okay, let's go."

After locking her room, she followed Nakajima out to the parking lot where she spotted a bright red sports car. It was the only thing other than her stupid-looking car, and Nakajima was walking towards it. She cleared her throat as they approached the car.

"How did you afford this on a teacher's salary?"

Nakajima smiled. "My boyfriend is from a rather rich family. It's actually his car, but he lets me use it."

San shook her head and got in, looking over at her. "You drive a sports car to school. You're not the teacher for class three, are you?"

Nakajima shook her head. "No... well, yes, but class three for a different grade. Not the same class at all."

The drive went by quietly, with San's anticipation growing every second they got closer to the school. When they arrived, Nakajima was quick to hurry off. She pointed San in the right direction, and then rushed off to her job. San took her time making her way to the old classroom. She had known where it was, but it never occurred to her to check the room for any messages left behind.

She stood in front of the classroom door and reached out for the handle, stopping when a thought hit her. How did this help? Sakakibara told her that it would help the case. They would be one step closer to finding Reiko Mikami's killer if they knew what the tape said. How, exactly, did one follow the other? Once she opened the door, she would be faced with a decrepit and abandoned class room with old chairs and desks scattered all around. At the back, she would find a line of lockers. One of the lockers had a message recorded on a tape hidden inside. But what would that message say that could help the case?

She was about to go in to find out for herself when a voice called down the hall at her. "If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of there."

San looked down at the end of the hall. The voice belonged to a young student. The girl had long red hair braided into pigtails, a girlish fashion that belied her stern face. San didn't open the door, but she didn't move away. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

The girl shook her head. "I'm the head of countermeasures. It's my job to keep people safe from the curse." She narrowed her eyes. "I'm guessing you know about the curse, seeing as you're snooping about the old class three room."

San nodded. "I was that class ten years ago. One of my classmates stopped the curse that year."

The student shook her head. "I don't care. It has nothing to do with this year. Keep away, or you're risking your self." She turned and walked away, having said what she came to say.

San called after her. "I didn't catch you name!"

The girl called back. "It's Akazawa! Now get out! You'd better not be here when I come back at lunch!"

* * *

**Author's Note: That's right. Akazawa. Where am I going with this? I'll leave it up to you to figure that one out.**


	3. Warning Signs

Inside the old classroom, San saw nothing more than a mess. Desks and chairs were scattered around on the floor, overturned and occasionally broken. Several of the windows were smashed, glass covering the floor in front of them. A line of lockers were set up against the back, on the other side of the piles of splintering wood and rusting metal.

San shook her head. "This is bullshit. The school wouldn't leave the place like this. Someone did this recently."

She started pushing her way through to the back. Picking up a chair, she turned around and set it on the table beside her. It was one of the few tables still upright, but as soon as she set the chair on it she heard something cracking. Instinctively, she jumped to the side just as the ceiling tile above her collapsed. She landed on a chair, which broke, and hit the floor in a shower of old plaster.

Sitting up, San looked back at the fallen ceiling tile. A large square section of air duct had crashed down on top of it. If it had hit her, it would have gone through her just like a cookie cutter. Turning around and standing, she continued on her way. Throwing her previous caution to the wind, she grabbed another desk and simply flipped it over. Now, with its legs pointing straight up, it made for a convenient short clear path instead of an obstacle.

Taking another step, she heard a small crunch under her foot. Ignoring it, she went to take another step. Suddenly, the floor under her foot broke and she fell forward. She cried out in pain, feeling a splinter of wood dig into her leg. She had closed her eyes when she fell, and when she opened them again she saw the broken leg of a chair mere centimeters away from her face. If she had fallen any further, it would have gone through her eye.

Shivering, she moved to the side and pulled herself up. She sat up, grabbing the chair leg and pulling it out of the tangled mess. She threw it at the other end of the room, hoping to never see it again. Looking back down at her leg, she was relieved to see that the wound wasn't deep. It was barely a scratch, as far as she was concerned. She'd had worse.

Standing again, this time with a bit of struggle, she pushed the rest of the mess out of her way and reached the lockers. One of them held the tape, but she would have to check them all. A few at the end had fallen forward, and there were remains of a chair sticking out from underneath them. She made a mental note to be careful that she didn't bring one down on her. This room had already tried to kill her twice.

She laughed at herself as she opened the first locker. "Right... the room is trying to kill me. I'm not a student here anymore. Haven't been for years. The curse can't effect me."

Opening and shutting a second locker, she stopped when a chill went up her spine. She glanced behind her at the room. It suddenly felt cold. She wanted to get out of the room as fast as possible, so she rushed over to the third locker and threw it open. As soon as she saw it was empty, she slammed it closed and moved on to the next. She opened the fourth locker just as quickly as the last, but stopped when she heard the sound of something wobbling back and forth. Closing the locker slowly, she glanced at the locker beside her. It was still.

It was the next locker that was rocking.

She stepped over to the locker and pressed her hand against it to hold it back. She opened it and looked in. Sure enough, there was a small package stuck to the top of the locker. She reached up and pulled it down, grinning at her success. She turned around and started to inspect the package. There was no lighting left in the classroom, so she would have to take the tape somewhere else before she could even try opening it. She didn't want to risk tearing the film when she opened it, no matter how small that risk technically was.

The loud creaking of metal made her turn again to the locker. She had left it open, and now it was leaning out from the wall. She only had a moment to let out a short scream before it fell and landed on her. It took a moment, but once she overcame the shock enough to realize she hadn't been harmed and was now inside the locker, she reached up and pushed it off of her. She grabbed the side of the locker and rolled it away to the side, and stood up for the third time in as many minutes.

"Okay... the room is trying to kill me." She made sure she had a good grip on the tape, then headed back the way she had come. She stepped over the hole in the floor, and stepped around the fallen piece of duct. Turning around, she made sure to give the duct a swift kick.

When she kicked it, a table that had been stacked on an angle fell and slammed into an upright table, causing it to collapse. The chair set on the table, the one she had placed there, fell off the table when it collapsed and crashed into a stack of chairs near the windows. The stack fell over and hit the wall, which stopped its movement. The broken chair leg, which had landed on top of the stack, slid off the top chair and fell through the broken window.

The room went still and silent. She froze as soon as things started falling, afraid that something was about to crush her and kill her. When she saw that the whole thing culminated in the chair leg falling out the window, she let out a gasping breath. The path was clear now, so she turned and rushed to the door, exiting the room. She hoped she would never have to return.

Finally outside again, she could breath easy. She found a bench outside the school and sat down. In the sunlight, it was far easier to see what she was doing when she tried to open the package. Carefully peeling away the paper, she found exactly what she had hoped for inside. It was a cassette tape.

A boy rushed past her suddenly, shouting an apology over his shoulder. She clutched the tape to her chest, not wanting to drop it. She watched the boy run through the nearest door into the school. Whoever he was, she guessed he was just late for class. Shaking it off, she stood up and headed into the school. There had to be a sound room somewhere she could check what the tape said.

On her way through the halls, after climbing up some stairs, she found herself outside class three. It wasn't where she had intended to go, but something was telling her she should at least meet the class. She didn't want to just barge in during a lesson, though, so she waited outside the classroom. She had time to kill, and she wasn't going to be listening to the tape until Sakakibara got back.

Standing there, leaning against the wall, looking at the cassette tape in her hand, a thought occurred to her. Why shouldn't she listen to the tape on her own. Sakakibara had said to be careful with the information on it, but nothing indicated that she couldn't listen to it on her own. She made her way back down to the main floor, found a convenient map of the school, and went straight to the sound room.

Closing the sound room door behind her so no unwanted eavesdroppers would hear the tape, she found what looked like a cassette player and stuck it in. It had been years since she'd used one, but it was coming back to her rather quickly. She smartly stopped herself from pressing 'record' and instead hit 'play'. The machine started working, and the tape started playing.

Several minutes of waiting later, she realized she was sweating. She sped forward, hoping she was just at the wrong end. When she found no message, she rewound it to the beginning in case it had already been past the message when she started. Still nothing.

Ejecting the tape, she pulled it out and inspected it. Nothing appeared to be wrong physically. Standing up, she opened the door and looked up and down the hall. A man rounded the corner and saw her, shouting at her and picking up his pace.

"Hey! What are you doing in there?"

San reached into her pocket and pulled her badge into view. "Sir, this is a police investigation. I need your help with a piece of evidence."

The man stopped, looking stunned. "Uh, p-police?"

She nodded, holding up the tape. "I believe this to be an important piece of evidence, but I either can't get your cassette player to work or the tape is blank. Can you help me?"

Shaking himself back into action, he nodded. "Um, yeah, I think I can." He accepted the tape from her and stepped into the sound room, inspecting the tape. "Is there something in particular you expect to be on here?"

She nodded, showing him to the seat. "Yes, I was told it would have a message recorded by a student at this school ten years ago." As he placed the tape in the player, she thought of something else. "As soon as we hear a voice, I want you to pause it. This information is best kept to a limited number of people, and I wouldn't want you getting in harm's way."

He sighed and nodded. "Okay..." He fiddled with the machine a bit, listening to the tape closely. "Hmm... I think I might know what the problem is."

San watched him stop it and pull it out, biting her lip. "What, then?"

He just placed the tape back in, but she noticed he had turned it around. "You were probably just looking at the wrong side."

"...Wrong... side?"

He looked at her, confused. "These things have two sides. You didn't know that?"

She gritted her teeth, exceedingly annoyed with herself. "No." Then, just as he had presumed, a voice started talking on the cassette player. San jumped up, patting him on the shoulder. "Okay, there you go! Pause it."

He obeyed, then glanced back up at her. "I hope I helped your case, whatever it is."

She waited for him to stand up and head for the door. "Yeah, I hope so too. At least now I'll be able to figure out if this is a dead end or not. Oh, do you know Sachiko Nakajima?"

He nodded. "Yeah, she's one of the teachers. Is she a witness, or...?"

San shook her head. "No, she's just an old friend. We were classmates. Could you get her to meet me in here at lunch hour?"

He gave a worried look. "Sure. I can tell her, anyway. So, uh... would you mind telling me what kind of investigation this is at least? Are you here about that kid who died last month? I thought you people already declared that an accident."

San froze. It had to be the curse. She had a chance to stop it before anyone else died. She had to do everything in her power. She denied him, though. "No. No, it's not about that, and no, it would be better if you didn't know. When Nakajima is free, tell her there's a police detective waiting for her right here. And if Kouichi Sakakibara shows up, send him up here too."

He made a sounds part way between a sigh and a scoff, but answered before closing the door. "Alright then."

Once he was gone, San leaned back in the chair. The extra time had given her chance to think about it. Maybe it was best if she didn't know what the message said before Sakakibara arrived. She might be tempted to try something on her own, and there was no telling what that could cause to happen. She might even cause the next death in class three. Best to wait and find out together.

* * *

**Author's Notes: This whole chapter was written in only a few hours, a miracle considering my writing speed. Desperation kicks in and I can do great things. So tell me, hypothetical reader, what did you think of that whole sequence in the old classroom? The broken chair leg falling out the window? Let me know.**


	4. Class Three

San sat in the sound room, staring at the tape in her hands. Sakakibara sat in the seat in front of the tape player, also watching the tape closely. Sachiko Nakajima was also present, but she was trying to avoid looking at the object. They had listened to the tape, and it had answered many of their questions. Sakakibara eventually broke the ice.

"So now we know. Kill the extra, and the curse is stopped for the year." He sat up straight. "Which means we can save a lot of lives if we can figure out who the extra is this year."

Nakajima stood up and moved to the door. "You can do it without me, then."

San stood up, placing the tape on the desk beside her. "You're just going to run away from this?"

Nakajima turned and glared back at her former classmate. "I don't have to run. I'm safe where I am, and as long as I stay where I am I stay safe. I lost a lot of my friends because of that damn curse."

San clenched her fists. "Those kids are going to lose some of the friends they have right now, and we can stop it. Saving lives, and I'm sorry Sakakibara, comes before anything else. You're a teacher, Nakajima. These are students. If nothing else, help us solve this because it's your job."

The young teacher just shook her head. "I can't." Without saying any more, and possibly unable to say any more, she turned and exited the room.

San grunted unhappily, turning to Sakakibara. "And you're leaving tonight, so I'm in this alone. This is just marvelous."

Sakakibara shrugged. "I set up a meeting for you. The guy was a classmate of my aunt, and he was the one who left the original tape. He's promise to help all he can. He'll be in town tomorrow."

San waited several seconds before responding. "Alright, thanks." She looked up. "Hmm... it's lunch hour now, so I should head over to the classroom. I'll need to meet the class."

Sakakibara took the tape in hand. "You go ahead. I have other things I need to check on."

Without looking back, San stepped into the hall. She remembered the way back to class three, so she was standing outside the room within a minute. She opened the door and peered in, seeing only a few students seated at their desks. They were all preoccupied with their lunches, except for the red-haired girl at the front near the opposite wall. She had looked up from her food as soon as San had opened the door.

Akazawa, as San remembered her name, spoke coldly to her. "I told you to leave."

The other students looked up at the sound of the chilly words. San gave the girl a fake smile. "Why would I leave when I've just figured out how to save this class?"

Akazawa's jaw dropped, and the other students looked suddenly extremely interested. One of them, a boy with messy blond hair down past his shoulders, pointed his fork at her. "You can stop the curse?"

San nodded. "Yes, and I'd be glad if someone could direct me towards a class roster. I need to at least know who all is in this class."

Another student, a girl with dark hair, got up from her desk and walked over to the teacher's desk. She opened up a drawer and pulled out a clipboard with papers on it. She handed it to San, smiling. "I hope you really can save us."

San took the clipboard, and almost dropped it when she looked at the girl. She was the one San had seen before, in the house and room San had once lived in. She shook it off and started to occupy herself with the papers on the clipboard. The girl obliviously walked back to her desk, which San realized was the one right behind Akazawa. The same desk she had sat at. She looked at the roster, which listed the girl's name alongside her home address, confirming everything she thought she knew.

She looked up at the girl, then read off her name. "Michuru Shinozaki?"

The girl looked up, still smiling. "Yes?"

San took a deep breath, looking back down at the clipboard. "Thanks for your help." The girl beamed, and San looked for the blond boy who had spoken earlier. She frowned at the sight of his name. "...Ruuku...?"

The boy looked up, clearly perturbed. "It's Luke. The teacher screwed it up first day, and nobody seems to care. Luke Normandy, so just move on."

San rolled her eyes. The boy was a foreign student. She moved on like he had suggested, looking for the other students that were in the room. "Junko Kisuragi?"

A girl near the back with dark pinkish hair looked up. "Hmm? Yes?"

San waved at her, telling her to stay seated. "I'm just seeing who all is here right now." She read off the next name. "Takao Miyagi?" She looked up and saw the boy who had rushed past her earlier, the one that was late for class.

He ignored her for a moment before looking up and shaking his head. "Oh, sorry. I'm sitting in Miyagi's desk." He pointed to the seat beside him. "That's mine. I'm Hifumi Kinjou"

San looked down at the clipboard again, frowning. "Okay then..." She looked up at the girl in the front. "And Izumi Akazawa."

The head of countermeasures groaned in irritation. "Are you done yet?"

San lowered the clipboard, fixing the girl with a hard glare. "No. I still need to talk to the teacher. That said, you five are now my deputies in this matter. Shinozaki, you're in charge when I'm not present. You're objective is to identify the extra."

Kisuragi jumped up from her seat, pumping her fist in the air. "We'll be like the five musketeers!"

Akazawa stood up as well, waving her hand dismissively at Kisuragi. "Shut up, Junko. What gives you the right to barge in here and do this, anyway?"

San held up her badge. "Multi-jurisdictional police investigation. So long as it doesn't interfere with another officer's work, I have authority in this city and I can get it in any other city I end up needing to have it in." Putting the badge away, she moved on. "As my deputies, your job is to investigate and report anything relevant, even dubiously, to me. You are not to take action on any information you find, or lives could end up at risk."

Luke scoffed. "We're at risk just by being in this class. A meteor could come and kill any one of us at any time."

San struggled to ignore what she knew could be truth. "Yes, well... has the death for June happened yet?"

Akazawa grimaced. "No. That means it'll either be today or tomorrow."

A bell sounded throughout the school, signaling the end of lunch hour. San placed the clipboard back in the teacher's desk. "Then hopefully we can do this quickly. I'll be outside the old room for class three. Come see me after school. And don't tell the teacher I was here. I'll talk to them when I need to."

With that, she was out the door. Instantly, Luke turned around and glared at Junko. "The five musketeers? There were only three musketeers."

She shrugged, sitting down. "Well, technically, we don't actually know how many there were. There could have been five, and we only remember three of them because two of them died."

Akazawa turned on her. "Junko, shut up!" The pink-haired girl shrunk down, and Akazawa addressed all of them. "No one's dying, okay? ...we'll be the five freaking musketeers if that's what it takes for no one to die."

As much as Akazawa didn't like it, she made sure that the other four followed her to the old school building so that they could meet the detective together. They stopped outside, and Akazawa looked up the side of the building at the windows. The classroom was right above them, and she felt it was a bad idea to bring everyone there all at once.

"Okay, stick together when we go in. I'm still not sure about this woman. Got it, Shinozaki?"

Luke bumped the dark-haired girl's shoulder. "Don't let Akazawa push you around like that. The nice police lady said you were in charge."

Junko pumped her fist in the air. "Tell her off, Michuru! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Michuru went pale. "I don't wanna fight!"

Akazawa growled at Luke and Junko. "No one is fighting. Hey, Hifumi, pay attention!"

Hifumi turned to look at her, his face showing that he was somewhat unhappy. "Look, I think I'm just going to go home. If she asks where I am, tell her I felt a little off so I went home."

Junko laughed and shoved the boy playfully, causing him to fall backwards and land in the bushes along the outside of the building. "Come on, Kinjou! Don't be a party-pooper!"

Luke and Michuru laughed along with Junko, but stopped the instant Hifumi shouted and jumped up, turning and backing away from the bush. He shot Junko a terrified glare. "You almost killed me! You idiot!"

Junko waved him off, giggling. "It's a bush, silly. Not gonna kill you."

San came running out of the building. "I heard shouting! Is anyone hurt?"

Akazawa turned to the policewoman and grimaced. "Hifumi fell in a bush. We should probably get him to the emergency room as soon as possible. I don't think he's going to make it."

San looked over at the boy in question. His clothes were a bit dirty and his brown hair was a mess, with a leaf sticking to the side of his head. She shook her head. "Wuss. And you scream like a girl."

Akazawa placed her hands on her hips, retorting indignantly. "I take offense to that remark, just so you know."

"Oh, please..." San reached into her pocket and pulled her gun free, pointing it at the group for all of a second before moving to put it back. In that second, four of the five students let out girlish screams. The only one exempt, which was Luke, let out a much deeper sound that conveyed roughly the same message of panic. Thus, she had won the argument before it even began.

San felt something sharp suddenly jabbing her in the leg. She looked down to see what looked to be a small circular blade sticking out out about halfway up past her knee. Pulling it out with a pained grunt, she inspected it to find that it was in fact a CD cut to the shape of a rotary saw blade. She gave the students an infuriated look.

"Did one of you little pricks just throw this at me?" Luke stepped forward, trying his best to keep a straight face. She made to throw it at him, causing him to flinch, but then simply handed it to him. "Keep this thing around and I won't be surprised when it ends up killing you."

He made a face. "Yeah... sorry... reflex."

She made sure he understood how dead serious she was. "Never. Again."

As Luke backed away, profoundly sorry, Akazawa looked San over. "So, uh... now you're bleeding. From both legs."

Not far away from them were a few boys, other students, who were busying themselves with a leisurely game of baseball. It was at that precise moment that the batter hit the ball rather high, and it came down right on San's head, and then bounced behind the bushes. As San was bent over and clutching her head in pain, one of the boys ran over to retrieve the ball.

As he passed right in front of her, she saw his foot catch on a rock sticking out of the ground. He tripped and fell forward. Michuru screamed in horror, and when San looked up she saw why. The boy had fallen face first into the bush, and sticking out through the back of his skull after entering through his right eye was the leg of a chair.

Junko looked like she was going to be sick. "That's..."

Akazawa finished for her. "Takao Miyagi."

* * *

**Author's note: Ignore me pulling random names out of anywhere and everywhere. Most of them will never mean anything outside of this story. Izumi Akazawa, Luke Normandy, and Junko Kisuragi all existed in some form or another (or Another) before this story was started. I want to update this more often, but I have so many stories on the go. This is one of my top priorities, though. Expect at least one update in September. Please read and review.**


	5. The Coward

_"This isn't gonna help us, San. Getting yourself mixed up in this curse business is going to take you away from the investigation. You know, your job?"_

San sat on the back bumper of Nakajima's car, holding an icepack to her head with one hand and a cellphone to her ear with the other. She watched the covered body of Takao Miyagi being carried into placed carefully in the back of the ambulance that had come after her first call from Michuru's cellphone.

She groaned and pressed the icepack down harder, trying to push the swelling down by force. "Damn it..." Eventually, she returned her attention to the man on the phone. "Look, Nishijima, people's lives are at stake. Students' lives. I know how to save them. I just need to identify the extra."

On the other end, he gave a long sigh. _"__Alright, I guess. Just so long as you get a move on the case as soon as you're done."_

She looked down at her legs, both disinfected with bandages over stitches. It was going to slow her down. "...Nishijima, I've been meaning to ask. Do you actually believe this stuff about the curse. I mean, I know you accept that I believe it, but I want to know where you stand."

He was silent for several seconds before answering. _"__I think I lost all my inner skepticism three years ago. If you ask me, my wife is weirder than any curse you can come up with."_

San rolled her eyes. "Right. Your wife. Listen, how about this? You keep that all to yourself, and I deal with this curse crap. Sound good?"

_"__Yes, San."_ He drew out both words, making him sound like a bored kid listening to his parents' lecturing. _"__So, call back as soon as you find out anything about the case. Right?"_

San closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pain on the top of her head. "Yeah... I'm meeting with Matsu... something-or-other tomorrow. He made the original recording, and was in Reiko Mikami's class in eighty-three. Sakakibara said the two of them met back in ninety-eight. Maybe this guy knows a thing or two."

_"__Let's hope so. Okay, I gotta go. I have another case to deal with. Talk to you later." _He hung up without even waiting for San to reply.

She closed the phone and stood up, walking over to the five students she had claimed as her deputies. She handed Michuru her phone back. "Thanks. How are you guys holding up?"

Junko pulled her arms tighter around her, slowly rocking herself back and forth on the ground and mumbling to herself. Hifumi sat on the bench, his head buried in his hands. A low-pitched whine came from him, but nothing else. Luke sat at the other end of the bench, his head bowed and arms wrapped around Michuru as the girl, teary-eyed, fumbled with her phone to put it in her pocket.

Akazawa stood by, burning into San with a glare. "This is your fault. I hope you know that."

San turned on her. "I didn't do this. You know as well as I do what this is, and it's no one's fault. You're the head of class countermeasures. What are you doing to combat this?"

Akazawa stepped forward, storming up to San and shouting at her. "I'm trying to keep people like you from getting involved, because every time someone from outside tries to help things just get worse!"

San shouted right back. "I'm alive because someone from outside tried to help!" Akazawa shrunk back, and San took a step back to recollect herself. She reached up and rubbed her temple with her free hand, the other hand still pressing an icepack to her head. "Ugh... look. I know what you're all going through. I lived through the curse, so I also know what does and doesn't work. On top of it all, I know how to stop the curse."

Luke looked up at her. "So why won't you tell us?"

She looked back down at him, her eyes telling him there would be no arguing. "Because you might try something foolish and get someone killed. Look, all I'm asking of you is that you help me find out who the extra is this year. Find that out, and your part is done. I'll stop the curse, and none of you will ever have to worry again."

Junko finally stopped rocking herself back and forth and looked up, her face drenched. "But... what about... when we're grown up and... and our kids go to this school?"

San smiled down at the girl. "That much is simple. Get out of Yomiyama as soon as you can. Never look back. That's what I did."

Hifumi stood up suddenly. "Well, this plan is foolproof. I'm going home."

Michuru jumped up. "Wait, don't go yet! We-"

Akazawa waved her off, turning to leave. "School's over. Go home and get some rest, Shinozaki. You too, Kisuragi."

Junko sighed and stood up, walking off on her own. Michuru looked back at San as the others walked away. She just closed her eyes and shook her head sadly. A minute later San was all alone with Luke, who just sat there on the bench. She waited for him to either move or speak.

Eventually, the boy looked up at her. "You needed to catch the teacher, right?" San nodded. Luke grimaced. "Well, she'll probably be back in the classroom right now. Drinking away her sorrows or something. If you hurry, you can catch her before she... hits the ground."

San rolled her eyes. "And what about you, Normandy? What are you going to do?"

He leaned back in his seat. "Ah... I usually sit here until about sunset. You'll probably be in bed before I even get home."

She shook her head and turned to leave, offering one last piece of advice. "Just don't get yourself killed."

He laughed and waved goodbye to her. "I'll round everyone up on Monday for you. They'll feel better then. I just hope nobody dies on Sunday."

San ignored him, but reminded herself to thank him on Monday for keeping the others on track. She entered the school building and headed for class three, hoping the teacher was both still there and, if Luke's warning could be trusted, still conscious. She approached the door and opened it, stopping when she saw the teacher.

Sachiko Nakajima turned to look up at her, a miserable look on her face. An unmarked bottle of some questionable liquid sat on the desk in front of her. She shook her head, turning away again and running her fingers through her hair. "...Hello again."

San stepped in and closed the door, struggling for words. "But... but you said... I thought you... you said a different grade. Why are you...?"

Nakajima shook her head again, reaching for the bottle. "Sorry... I... I spent the better part of the morning getting ready to act like I was safe. Just... don't ask me why."

San pointed emphatically in the direction she figured the parking lot was. "And that sports car? Was that a lie too? Is it really your boyfriend's, or is it actually yours? Heck, for all I know, it could be mine."

Nakajima groaned. "Ah, shit... could you lower your voice some."

San stepped to her old friend's side. "Nakajima... Sachiko. I need full cooperation on this. From everyone, and that includes you. You lying to me and keeping secrets is only going to cause problems."

Nakajima looked up, tears running from her eyes. "I just... I didn't think you needed to be worrying about me when the children were in danger."

San slammed her fist on the desk, startling Nakajima. "Of course I need to worry about you! More than that, I need your help! And most of all, I need to not have to deal with bullshit information! If I had known you were the teacher, I would have called you out there to help me, and if you were there you might have been able to save that boy!"

"Or I could have been killed the way he was!"

San slapped Nakajima across the face, silencing her. "Get a damn grip on yourself!" She lowered herself so that their eyes were level. "You're the one these kids need to be looking up to to guide them through this. You can't be sitting here rationalizing that you're not trying to stop the curse while they're dying. I need you helping me on this, but you're useless if you're just going to sit here and be a coward. Without your cooperation, the kids aren't going to cooperate either, and then they're all pretty much fu-"

"Okay, okay!" Nakajima waved her hands frantically. "I get it. I just... Look, San, I was never very brave, okay. I ran away back then, and I'm barely able to keep myself here now." She tenderly touched her cheek, wincing. "You didn't have to hit me."

San stood up straight, glaring down at her. "Seems I did. What I need from you is for you to stop being a selfish coward and start trying to save this class. No one else needs to die."

Nakajima sighed. "From what I heard, someone needs to die." She looked up at San. "The extra? How do you plan on doing that?"

San's eyes flashed down to her side, where her fingers brushed her gun. "I'll handle it when the time comes."

Nakajima stood up. "You'd shoot one of my students? Even if they are the extra, you'd just kill them? Just like that? What if you're wrong about who the extra is?"

San shook her head. "When I draw my gun, I'll already know for certain." Their eyes met, and she continued. "Someone is threatening the lives of others, and the only way to stop it is to end their life. There's no other choice."

Nakajima just stared at her in disbelief. "You could kill someone, just like that?"

San took a deep breath before answering. "I can. And I have. And I will. Because, and only because, in these cases it is the right thing to do. That doesn't make it any easier."

Nakajima dropped into her seat, utterly stunned. "You... I never imagined... you could have changed so much."

San turned and headed for the door. "Most people can't deal with having killed someone. I can, but only because I know that, for the three deaths constantly on my conscience, there are eleven people who are alive today because of that. That's why I'm the cop and you're the teacher. Because I can justly rationalize any blood on my hands. Like I said, it's not any easier. It's just that some people can carry that load."

All she got for a response was Nakajima mumbling to herself. "How can someone change so much?"

As San left the room, she looked back in at Nakajima. "Everyone changes, Sachiko. Now we're just waiting for you."

On her way out of the school, San went over what she knew about how to identify the extra in her head. First, and least helpful, the extra supposedly had cold skin. Second, much more helpful, they wouldn't be able to remember much of their past. They would be, as it was said, an incomplete copy of someone who died in a past class. Not that anyone from that class would remember. That was part of the curse. The extra, the dead one, would have a good alibi.

Finally, and most importantly, they would be the only person walking around with the color of death hanging on them. There was only one person San knew of who could see the color of death. That would be the perfect place to start. She knew where to go, so she set her feet walking to the old doll shop where she knew she could find Mei Misaki.

* * *

**Author's note: I thought long and hard about portraying Sachiko this way, and also making her the teacher for class three. Mei Misaki next chapter, so keep an eye open for the next update.**


	6. Survivors

The last time San had been in the doll shop, she had been checking it out with some of the other girls from class three. Her friend Kazue Satou had wanted to see what it was like, but didn't want to go alone. Haruka Etou, Aya Ayano, and Yumi Ogura were there as well, but the visit had ended as soon as they all realized Mei Misaki lived in the residence just above the shop. After leaving, they had teased Kazue about it for the next week. They had stopped when Yukari Sakuragi died.

San stood at the door to the shop, finding her mind wandering. She started to wonder what Kazue was up to. They hadn't spoken since that year, when Kazue left partway through. Of course, she knew Ayano and Ogura had died. Other than that, she knew exactly where Haruka Etou was, but for the most part the survivors of class three had scattered after graduation.

Shaking it off, she pushed the door open and stepped into the building. A light jingle went off over her head, and she stopped. The door hit her back, pushing her inside, but otherwise she stood still in surprise. The interior had changed completely at some point in the past ten years. For starters, it was brightly lit. Dolls were displayed all around the front room in elegant glass boxes, with fancy wooden carved stands. There were a few islands in the center of the floor, but the were low enough to easily look down at the contents.

The biggest change, as far as San was concerned, was the replacement of the elderly woman behind the counter. Now, in her place, there was a young woman with straight black hair. Her right eye was a dark red, while her left eye was jade green. She looked up from the computer sitting on the counter, smiling at San.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

San stepped in cautiously, as if the dolls might jump out and attack her. "I'm just here to see an old friend. A classmate from years ago."

The woman, and San had recognized her right away, just smiled. "My mother passed away several years ago."

San sighed, her eyes catching on a case with familiar-looking dolls. "I'm sorry to hear that." She stopped and looked behind her at the woman. "I _do not_ look that old, Misaki."

Mei Misaki took a few extra moments to study her face, and then her smile disappeared in an instant. "Oh no."

San reached into her pocket and pulled up the badge. "Don't worry, I'm here for my job. I'm investigating Reiko Mikami's murder, though anything you can tell me about the curse of class three would be appreciated."

Misaki looked uncomfortable. "No. No, you need to go. You need to get out of here."

San turned to look back to the dolls in the case. They looked to be a full set of fourteen. She spotted a pair, several from the end that looked particularly familiar, and upon closer inspection they caused her to recognize all the others. "Are these...?"

Misaki got up and walked around the counter, stepping to her side. "Their appearances are based on all of our classmates, yes. But only the ones who have died."

San shot her a disturbed look. "Why?"

Misaki waved her off, like she expected to be misunderstood. "It's my way of remembering them."

She was right. The pair San had caught on were Aya Ayano and Yumi Ogura. She recognized all the others as well. Sugiura, Matsui, Sakuragi, Kazami... they were all there. She stopped at the three on the end. "Why... why is Mochizuki there? And Fujimaki? They survived."

Misaki shook her head. "Come with me and I'll show you." She started walking to the back. "Maybe then you'll see why I want you to get away from Yomiyama."

San followed the doll-maker to a door at the back that led to a staircase. At the bottom of the stairs was the workshop, but Misaki instead headed up to the residence. San followed her up and into her home. In the house, Misaki waved San into the second bedroom ahead of her. Once they were both inside, and Misaki closed the door, she flicked on the light.

San looked around the room, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Strewn across the walls were photographs and newspaper clippings, as well as a map of the world in the corner. Nothing clicked, until her eyes fell on a photo of herself. "What is this?"

Misaki stepped in front of her. She motioned over the whole column of photos and clippings. "This is our class. Look, here's pictures of all our classmates. The ones that died that year, and all the rest of us." She poked her finger at the picture of Manabu Maejima. "He showed up around four years ago, when his cousin was in class three. Now, she's alive, but..." She pointed to the clipping beside his photo.

San leaned in closer, reading the headline out loud. "Fatal car crash... those happen every day."

Misaki nodded. "Yes, but it got me worried about everyone else, so I started looking for them." She tapped three photos in rapid succession. "Mochizuki. Fujimaki. Yonemura. All died in residential accidents, each one year after another. Mochizuki died the year after that class, and it never stopped. It just goes by years instead of by months."

San's eyes widened, taking in the timeline. "Daisuke Wakui... died in an ambulance crash. Noboru Saruta, shot when his home was invaded." She skipped over Maejima, having already heard about his demise. "Sayuri Kakinuma, murdered. Yukito Tsujii, suicide." She stopped when she saw the last two.

Misaki elaborated. "Now that I think about it, you couldn't have picked a better time to show up. Until last week, I thought it was only killing us when we were in Yomiyama. Haruka Etou was stabbed to death on the twenty-first, but she's the first to have died outside this city since the year we were all in that class."

But San wasn't looking at that photo. Her eyes were fixed on the year before. "When did... What happened to... Satou?"

Misaki shook her head. "And that's why you might want to be leaving. It's been just about a year... oh, wow, one year and one day, come to think of it. She showed up, just like you, with the law behind her and everything. Until she came into town, I had no clue where Sakakibara had hidden himself, but she was here on his behalf. She was... well, she was on the exact same case that you're on."

San looked up at Misaki, a horrified expression growing on her face. "Come again?"

Misaki nodded gravely. "I take it Sakakibara asked you personally, just like he asked her personally." She took a deep breath. "He's been avoiding me, but I've been wondering why so many of you have been returning to Yomiyama. As it turns out, you and Satou aren't the only ones. That's the real reason Maejima came here, and Tsujii, and Kakinuma, and Wakui. You all just came here to help an old friend, but you don't even realize that he's turned into a bastard."

San shook her head. "No, I have to call him and find out about this. I'll ask him what he's trying to do."

Misaki's tone changed to a more patronizing tone. "Yes, why don't you do that? In the meantime, I have a Wakui doll to work on."

San turned to leave, but stopped. There was far more on the walls than what she'd been shown. "Wait... what's all this other stuff?"

Misaki nodded, stepping over to another column. "Oh, right, these. These are... every other year since the curse started. I tracked it, using school records and thoroughly searching the internet. That's how I know that this happens every time, and all the students die in an orderly fashion."

San looked up to the year stamps over each column, looking closer at the stamp marked '1983'. "Katsumi Matsunaga. He's still alive. I'm meeting him tomorrow."

Misaki looked grim. "Yes, well, there's always one survivor."

San turned away. "That's good to know."

"Don't look so smug. That one will be me."

San turned back, grinning. "Sure it will. There are still eight of us but you're chances of being the one that survives are still one in thirty. Etou died this year, so we've both got time. But my money's on Sakakibara." Before Misaki could respond, San pointed at a spot on the ground beneath the column for their year. "What's that?"

Misaki looked down at the fallen piece of paper, frowning. "Scrap, I think." She picked it up and looked at it. "Oh, her. I dunno, a few months ago I think I was out of it for a bit. I must've stuck this on our year, but this girl is in class three this year."

San reached out and took the photo, looking over to the most recent column. "Akazawa..." She laughed, handing the photo back.

Misaki jumped up, forgetting the sinister mood they had both taken on a moment earlier. "Oh, hey, here's a weird one for you. I got a doll that looks exactly like her. Come on, I'll show you."

She pushed past San and headed back down to the shop, and San followed. Back in the front room, Misaki tapped on a small display case. Inside the case was a cute little red-haired doll with pigtails done up in blue bows. It looked exactly like Izumi Akazawa. San stared at it awkwardly.

Misaki sat on the edge of the counter, folding her hands. "Funny story. I remember making it, and I remember I had a reason for making it, but I can't remember what that reason was. Stranger still, it looks like a girl in class three this year, but I made it two years ago."

San's mind was on the brink of figuring something out. It felt like she needed one more piece to the puzzle, and everything would make sense. The problem was that she wasn't sure what she was close to figuring out. She looked up at the shop's owner. "Was it ever in a different display case?"

Misaki looked across the room. "Yes, actually..." She walked over to the case with the set of fourteen dolls, with space made between them for another sixteen. Enough room for the whole class. "One morning, I woke up and found myself staring at this case. It took me a few moments to realize what was wrong, but I eventually noticed that doll was sitting in there. I know I put it there, but I can't imagine what possessed me to do that."

Misaki turned at the sound of the bell above the door jingling and the sight of San walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the window.

* * *

San made her way back to the hotel. Toweling her hair off after another shower, she sat on the edge of her bed in a black tank top and a pair of slim jeans. She had retrieved her cellphone from her car and was dialing Sakakibara's cell number. The phone rang twice before being answered by someone who sounded like they were trying to catch their breath.

_"Hello?"_

It was a woman's voice. San glanced around her empty room nervously. "Uh, I'm sorry, I think I got the wrong number. I'm looking for Kouichi Sakakibara."

The voice suddenly sounded more nervous than San. _"Oh, uh... oh. Oh! San! Right, uh, right... That's why you called his phone. That would be why you called his phone, because it's his and you would call it if you wanted to talk to him."_

San rubbed the back of her neck absently. "Is this... Sachiko? Why did you answer his phone?"

Her voice came back a little panicked. _"Uh, yeah, we were... we were meeting at a diner before he left. He wanted to make sure you and I were going to be able to get along in this, uh, investigation... thing."_

"So... where is he right now?"

She took a deep breath. _"You know, funny that. I must have grabbed his phone when we left, and I was running to catch him to give it back when you called. Here he is now."_

A few seconds later, Sakakibara's voice came over the phone. _"Hey, hello, what's up?"_ San was silent for a long while, the whole conversation with Nakajima bothering her for a number of reasons. Sakakibara spoke again, his irritation clear in his voice. _"Hey, you there? Why'd you call me?"_

San finally answered, her voice clipped. "I'll call you tomorrow, when you're not in bed." She hung up immediately, dropping her phone beside her and burying her face in her hands. Eventually, she reached back and picked up her phone, opening it up and dialing a different number. The phone rang a few times before someone finally picked up.

_"San, you're calling pretty late. What's this about?"_

She lay back on the bed. "Nishijima, I need full info on all the graduated students in class three the same year as me and Sakakibara. I need to know what they've been doing, and where all the deceased are buried. I also need the nature of those deaths."

A few moments passed before Nishijima came back. _"Wow, that's something. Eighteen graduates from that year, and ten of them are dead and buried. I'll send these to you on your computer, unless you want me to read them off right now."_

"No, just send them to me. Make sure I get phone numbers, though. As of now, I'm investigating those deaths and the eight remaining are the prime suspects."

It took an extra moment, but Nishijima answered over the sound of fingers flying over keys. _"I'll just assume you don't want me to tell the boss about this. Okay, those eight are your suspects. Do you want me to take you off that list, or will you be interrogating yourself?"_

She shook her head. "I'll rule myself out when I feel absolutely certain I'm not the damn perpetrator."

_"Okay..."_ She heard him hit a few more keys. _"So, we got Takeru Mizuno, you, Sachiko Nakajima, Mei Misaki, Megumi Tatara, Matsuko Arita, Kouichi Sakakibara, and Kazue Satou."_

San nodded thoughtfully, then stopped and sat up. "Wait, what about Naoya Teshigawara?"

More keystrokes and a mouse click. _"Heart attack last year. Kept private by his family. Why? Did you think he was alive?"_

San's mind raced. "Wait, did you say Kazue Satou is alive? Where is she? Misaki said she died... last year..."

A few moments passed before Nishijima responded. _"Hmm, this is sketchy. Kazue Satou was one of us, but you're right. Last year. She was investigating... Reiko Mikami's murder? She went missing near the end of June. San, what is this?"_

San thought for a moment, a whole new puzzle forming from leftover pieces. "Kazue Satou is our number one suspect. Put her name at the top of the list. After her put Sakakibara, Misaki, and Nakajima. In that order. Check Tatara and Arita to see if they've even come within sniping distance of Yomiyama. 'What this is' is I've been set up to be murdered."

* * *

**Author's note: Most of this is stuff I came up with while writing this chapter. I think this means I'm on a roll, too, which is cool. Now, with the new developments, there is one bit of the plot I'm not sure about anymore, but by the time I get to it I'll have figured it out. I was originally planning on killing Sachiko, and then I was going to kill off Misaki instead, and then both, and now I don't know if I should or shouldn't kill either. I mean, there's three deaths I know for sure are going to happen, but... I'll work through it.**

**On the other hand, this chapter (info-dumping exposition) may come as a bit of a shock in precisely what info it's dumping. Just, you know, keep in mind what series this is based on. I've got an ending in mind that I doubt FF's section for this series has anything even remotely like it. It'll be pretty cool.  
**


	7. The Extra

Mei Misaki woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone knocking on the door. None too pleased with the interruption, she got up and quickly changed into something more suitable that a nightgown. She headed down to the main floor and opened the door. Normally she was more cautious, but she already knew who it was.

"San, if you're bothering me this late it better be because I'm the extra." The late-night visitor grabbed her and shoved her back. She fell to the ground, hitting her head on one of the display cases. She grabbed her head in pain, glaring up at the intruder. "Gah! What the hell are you- ...you're not..."

A cloth was pressed to her face, and she passed out after only a brief struggle. Her unconscious body was dragged out into the street and hauled into the trunk of a car. A minute later, the car turned and disappeared around the corner, the street lit up by a burning building.

* * *

San answered her phone before she was even fully awake. "Nishijima? What's going on?"

_"Pretty dangerous night, actually. Anything or anyone try to kill you?"_

"No, why? What happened last night?"

_"Oh, not too much. Sakakibara was admitted to the hospital early in the morning. His car spun out of control, and then was smashed by a truck. He's alive, but he's also not the only one."_

San got out of bed and started getting ready for the day. "Did something happen to any of the others?" She put him on speaker-phone and started changing her clothes.

_"Well, you could say that. Mizuno admitted himself to the hospital after nearly getting hit by a car. Big headlines here, someone took a few shots at Arita. She's fine, just a little shaken. Now, you could have saved me a lot of trouble with this one. I was looking for Megumi Tatara, when I should have been looking for Megumi Sakakibara. Why didn't you tell me she got married?"_ He continued without letting her answer. _"Anyway, she was doing her job and covering a six car pileup when something exploded and nearly cut her in half. Also fine, but she apparently resigned immediately."_

San stopped halfway through slipping on a white jacket. "I didn't tell you those two were married because I didn't think it was going to last, seeing as Sakakibara is sleeping with Nakajima."

Nishijima coughed. _"Which Sakakibara?"_

San pulled the jacket on the rest of the way, leaving it unzipped and showing her black undershirt. She picked up the phone and switched it off of speaker-phone. "Kouichi, damn it. Megumi is still in Hokkaido."

_"Not true. After the explosion, and Kouichi's accident, she hopped on the first train to Yomiyama. And you'll never guess who is on that exact same train."_

San thought about it for a moment. Who else was relevant to this case? Matsuko Arita was too far away to be here already, and everyone else was already in Yomiyama. "Kazue Satou."

Nishijima grunted as if he should have expected her to say that. _"No, but I have something on her as well. No, actually, I'm on that train. The universe seems to hate you all, and her life could be in danger, so I got on the train so I could help keep more people from dying. Anyway, in other news, Misaki M. Studio burned down last night, and it's owner has gone missing. Someone living across the street claims there was a person knocking on Misaki's door just before the fire started."_

San stepped to the door of her hotel room and stopped. "Do you think she was abducted?"

_"Maybe. As for Kazue Satou, she showed up after being off the grid for a year. I called the police department in Yomiyama and asked them to keep an eye out for her, and plates matching her car were spotted last night. She's on the move."_

San sighed. "We just need to find out whose side she's on. If she knows I'm here then she'll try to make contact one way or another, unless she's not sure what side I'm on."

_"So what are you going to do?"_

"Only thing I can do. What I came here to do. Find out who murdered Reiko Mikami, and try to stop the curse for this year. If she's going to make a move, I'll just be waiting." She opened the door and stepped out into the hall, making her way to the foyer. "Right now, I have a meeting with Matsunaga. Call me if you hear anything else."

_"You know me. I'll just show up whenever it's least convenient."_

* * *

It was a quiet drive, San's thoughts swirling around in her head. The place she was meeting Matsunaga was a small wooded area at the side of the road. She pulled over, but didn't get out until she saw the dark-haired man sitting alone at a picnic table. She walked over to him her thoughts still a mess.

The man looked up and smiled. "Nice day, isn't it?"

She sighed and sat down. "Deceptively, yes. Although, no more deaths are expected this month, so we can at least breathe for a moment." She then shook her head. "Ah, but I want to stop this before anyone else dies. June starts tomorrow, and then anything could happen."

Matsunaga nodded thoughtfully. "So, then I take it Sakakibara asked you to do this?"

"Yes."

"Alright..." He folded his hands on the table in front of him. "So I guess I'll start with when I met Sakakibara at the beach. We had set the meeting up, so it wasn't coincidence or anything. He was there, and so were Teshigawara, Mochizuki, Sugiura, and Nakao." He thought about it for a bit. "Yeah... yeah, that was their names. Misaki was there too, but she was there with her family."

San held her breath. She remembered hearing about that trip. That was when Junta Nakao died. "Okay. Obvious question. How did they get there? Who drove the car? There had to be an adult accompanying them."

He gave a look that said he wasn't sure. "It was the, uh... the... assistant homeroom teacher? That doesn't sound right. There was a woman, and I think I knew her... but I can't remember her name. ...or her face." He smacked his head, clearly frustrated. "Damn it! Why can't I remember?"

San shook her head. "Assistant homeroom teacher? We didn't have..." She gasped. "The extra?"

He looked up. "Maybe... No, but there was someone else with them. I think one of the students must have been driving the other car. I didn't really see their seating arrangements, you know. But, there's this, I don't know, blank spot in my memory. I keep thinking I'm forgetting about one of the students, but then I see... that woman..."

San turned away, looking around at the trees. Was it possible that he had faint memories of the extra? According to Sakakibara's message, left ten years ago, everyone would forget about who the extra was eventually. San didn't remember the extra, and she didn't remember any assistant homeroom teacher. Could it be that this assistant homeroom teacher was the extra?

Matsunaga interrupted her thoughts. "Reiko...? No, wait... when did she die?"

San turned back to him. "Early 'ninety-seven. Two years before the class I was in. Why?"

He ran his fingers through his hair. "It's just... every time I try to think of who that other person was, I think of her. I know one of the cars was hers..."

San stood up suddenly. "The extra is someone who died in a previous year, right? Well, Reiko Mikami was the teacher two years before my class, and that's when she died. What if she was the extra in my year?"

He pointed at her. "You were in Sakakibara's class, right?" She nodded, though she thought he should have already known that. He stood up as well. "It makes sense, a little. But I'm still missing something from my memories of that day, like there was someone else there I can't remember. The only way that makes sense, as far as I know, is if there were two extras, but that's..."

San just nodded. "There were."

He looked surprised. "Two... extras? But that doesn't... How?"

San leaned forward, placing her hands on the table. "You forget the extra after they are sent back to the dead. The other person you can't remember _is_ the extra. For this year."

"Wha... woah..." He sat down, looking a bit dizzy. "And... who is that?"

San sat down, but didn't let the intense atmosphere disappear. "Mei Misaki went missing last night, just after I met with her. She told me that, four years ago, she started making doll replicas of all our classmates to honor their passing. She put them all together in a glass casing for display. Last year, she finished with everyone who died the year we went through the curse together and started on the ones who have died since. Around the time this school year started, she found a doll in that casing that she didn't remember as one of her classmates. She remembered making it, but not why."

Matsunaga raised his hand with a question. "Uh... dolls?"

San nodded. "Yes, dolls. This particular doll was on display beside the ones that looked like our classmates, but she didn't remember any classmates that the doll looked like. It does, however, look like one of the students this year. She made the doll two years ago. Now, tell me, if memories fade, and photos and written words change, then how do you remember someone you're bound to forget?"

He took a deep breath, catching on. "Something more permanent. A likeness."

San snapped her fingers. "Izumi Akazawa. She's the one you can't remember. The one Misaki made a likeness of, and then forgot why because she became the extra." She stopped and sat up straight. "Akazawa is the extra. ...and I have no way to find her until Monday. That's too late. That's two days away, and tomorrow is the first of June."

He mimicked her poster. "The curse acts up when someone's getting close to stopping it. If you know who the extra is, then it'll kill whoever it can on the first day of June, before you can ever stop it."

San stood up and headed for her car. "Then all I can do is try my best to keep everyone else safe. There are some kids that I've promised to do everything I can to protect." She opened her car door and got in, turning the key and starting the engine even before closing her door. She was about to press her foot down on the gas when the passenger side door opened. She watched Matsunaga get in and sit down, her face showing a silent question.

He waited until he was settled in, seat-belt holding him to the seat, before even acknowledging her surprise. He gave a smile that showed a number of mixed emotions. "It was my failure to pass on the message that let so many classes suffer under the curse. I'm going with you, and I'm going to help stop it. Even if I have to curb stomp this Akazawa kid myself."

San faced forward, glancing sideways at the man. "We may have to be more discreet than that."

He shrugged. "Just so long as we're keeping those kids safe." The car started moving, San steering them into the city. After a while, Matsunaga became restless. "Hmm... so, where to first?"

At a stoplight, San took the opportunity to point to their destination. "Right up there. The hospital."

He nodded. "Alright, yeah. The hospital. Who's there?"

"Kouichi Sakakibara. There's a few things I want to clear up with him, and I'm expecting someone else to show up later." She knew Megumi would go in to see her husband, and she suspected Nakajima would already be there. She could head off the drama if she and Matsunaga were there as well.

* * *

**Author's note: Two things. First; I hope it was pretty evident to all the readers already who the extra was. Second; I hope the plot point reveal isn't premature. Should I have waited? Was this a good time? Anyway, seems like it's on the home stretch, don't it?**


End file.
